''Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport'' is a 2000

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

about the British rescue operation known as the

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World ...

, which saved the lives of over 10,000

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and other children from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, and Danzig by transporting them via train, boat, and plane to Great Britain. These children, or ''Kinder'' in German, were taken into foster homes and hostels in Britain, expecting eventually to be reunited with their parents. The majority of them never saw their families again. Written and directed by

Mark Jonathan Harris Mark Jonathan Harris (born 1941) is an American documentary filmmaker probably best known for his films '' Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport'' (2000) and '' The Long Way Home'' (1997). He has directed three documentaries ...

, produced by Deborah Oppenheimer, narrated by

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

, and made with the cooperation of the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

, it utilized rare and extensive footage, photographs, and artifacts, and is told in the words of the child survivors, rescuers, parents, and foster parents. The film received numerous accolades, including winning the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...

. The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and VHS on August 28, 2001 by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Interviewed subjects

The documentary features filmed interviews in which the children of the Kindertransport (aged in their 60s and 70s at the time of the filming) recall their feelings and experiences. These interview subjects include: *Lorraine Allard, ''Kind'' *Lory Cahn, ''Kind'' *Mariam Cohen, foster mother of Kurt Fuchel * Hedy Epstein, ''Kind'' *Kurt Fuchel, ''Kind'' * Abrascha Gorbulski, Alexander Gordon, ''Kind, Dunera Boy, British Army Sergeant (1941-1947)'' * Franzi Groszmann, mother of Lore Segal * Eva Hayman, ''Kind'' *Jack Hellman, ''Kind'' *Bertha Leverton, ''Kind'' *Ursula Rosenfeld, ''Kind'' *Inge Sadan, ''Kind'' (Bertha Leverton's sister) *

Lore Segal Lore Segal (born March 9, 1928), née Lore Groszmann, is an American novelist, translator, teacher, short story writer, and author of children's books. Her novel ''Shakespeare's Kitchen'' was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2008. Early lif ...

, ''Kind'' *Robert Sugar, ''Kind'' *

Nicholas Winton Sir Nicholas George Winton (born Wertheim; 19 May 1909 – 1 July 2015) was a British humanitarian who helped to rescue children who were at risk of being murdered by Nazi Germany. Born to German-Jewish parents who had emigrated to Britain at ...

, rescuer * Norbert Wollheim, rescuer Alexander Gordon was also one of the refugees on , one of the most notorious events of British maritime history.

Reactions

''Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport'' has an approval rating of 91% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 35 reviews, and an average rating of 7.68/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Although it appears to be nothing more than a "talking heads" documentary you may see on TV, ''Into the Arms of Strangers'', nonetheless, tells a heart-wrenching story".

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film had a limited theatrical release (18 theaters at its widest) and grossed $382,807 domestically. In 2014, ''Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the

and selected for preservation for all time in the

. In 2000, ''Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport'' won the Evening Standard Award for Best Documentary.

References

External links

* *
Into the Arms of Strangers official websiteThe U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Kindertransport pageDeborah Oppenheimer website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Into The Arms Of Strangers: Stories Of The Kindertransport 2000 films 2000 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about children in the Holocaust Documentary films about child refugees Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Films directed by Mark Jonathan Harris Films scored by Lee Holdridge Kindertransport United States National Film Registry films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films

Interviewed subjects

Reactions

See also

References

External links